'We woke up in 1989' - Romanian graft decree turned back the clock

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - When fire tore through a Bucharest nightclub in 2015, victims were rushed to the city’s Floreasca hospital - but its newly-built, multi-million-euro burns unit was standing idle and could help no one.

Sixty-four people eventually died and the Social Democrat government was brought down within days by popular anger over the failure to enforce fire-safety regulations at the Colectiv nightclub, a failure blamed on endemic corruption and negligence.

The reins of government were handed temporarily to a team of technocrats and Romania’s special anti-corruption prosecutors turned their sights on the burns unit.

It lacked emergency exits and trained staff and had been left unused. But prosecutors believed someone had stood to gain from the expensive project, if not the injured clubbers.

After a closer look at the books, they launched a criminal investigation in November on suspicion that those in charge had knowingly overpaid for dozens of pieces of equipment worth hundreds of thousands of euros, all from one company.

Corrupt procurement practices are rife in Romania’s public sector, particularly hospitals, and a decree published by the ruling Social Democrats last month has underlined the scale of the challenge in cleaning up public life.

In an embarrassing U-turn on Sunday, the month-old leftist government reluctantly annulled the decree, which would have decriminalised some graft offences, after the largest protests since the 1989 overthrow of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Under his rule petty bribery was a way of life.

Parliament must eventually uphold the repeal of the decree, which would have decriminalised abuse-of-power offences where the sums involved are less than 200,000 lei (£38,164). It also would have narrowed the definition of conflict of interest, making it no longer punishable for a public official to favour a business partner when deciding who should win a contract.

“In the case of abuse of power, public procurement contracts could be split into smaller sums and awarded separately,” said Livia Saplacan, spokeswoman for Romania’s anti-corruption prosecution unit, the DNA, before the withdrawal of the decree.

“Until the decree, this was a very clear crime to investigate.”

ABUSE OF OFFICE

The DNA is currently investigating some 2,000 cases of alleged abuse of office, and had feared many would have be halted.

Protesters said the government order was tailor-made to amnesty dozens of public officials across all parties, not least the leader of the ruling party, Liviu Dragnea, who is on trial for abuse of office. The sum of money in his case fell under the new 200,000-lei threshold.

The government denied this, saying the decree and a related prisoner pardon bill were designed to ease overcrowding in jails and bring the criminal code into line with recent constitutional court rulings.

“My God, corruption has been a way of life for so long, we’ve had enough,” 62-year-old pensioner Natalia Pop said as she joined tens of thousands of protesters on Wednesday in the capital.

“Now they want to bend the laws to suit corruption – where’s that going to take us?”

The latest protests have dwarfed those that followed the Colectiv fire. Then, the Social Democrats quickly stepped aside - elections were only a year away and the party stood to gain little from clinging to power.

This time, they are barely one month into a four-year mandate, with a comfortable majority in parliament after winning an election on a promise to raise pensions and wages. In one of the poorest countries in the European Union, many worry more about how to feed their families than the cost of corruption.

“THEY CAN DO IT AGAIN”

Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, handpicked by Dragnea to head the government after Dragnea himself was barred by a previous vote-rigging conviction, had initially ruled out withdrawing the decree, despite the mass demonstrations, international criticism and the prospect of legal challenges.

Protesters use phones and flashlights during a protest in Victoriei Square, in Bucharest, Romania, February 5, 2017. Inquam Photos/Adriana Neagoe/via REUTERS

“This goes to show how systems, in general but ours in particular, are extremely vulnerable to authoritarian pressure,” said Sergiu Miscoiu, professor of political science at the Babes-Bolyai University.

Mirela Motatu, a 45-year-old dressmaker who joined Thursday’s protest in Bucharest, said she had been spooked by the decree, which bypassed parliamentary debate.

“If they can issue a law overnight they can do it again,” she said. “We went to bed in 2017 and woke up in 1989.”